Vincent, its in my best interests to have a clear, concise and comprehensive set of rules outlining how to proceed with conflict so that my group isnt held up for half an hour at the table mulling through wordy examples trying to resolve mechanics-related issues.

* When a "Oh, no, you don't!" situation comes up, everyone involved rolls dice. * Then everyone gets to say something about what their character is doing, in order of die rolls. * When someone says something that your character opposes, or something that could hurt your character, you reroll your dice and say how it turned out based on that die roll. * Once you've had to "answer" someone (which means "narrating the outcome of their action against your character"), though, you don't get your own action any more--you've been busy struggling with whoever is doing something to your character.

For the Advantage die, if you won any roll at all in a given round, you take one to the next round.

Just want to run the headsman scenario past it again for verification.

p1) anyone can choose to abandon their later move by choosing the option to answer the current challenge?? i.e. sorcerer decides to answer headsman challenge, which is to hurt victim.

p2) this opens up the possibility of contradictory results. victim looses to headsman, but sorcerer wins. In this 1 vs. many scenario, my interpretation is that there is an advantage in numbers. headsman must defeat all answerer in order to achieve his aim?

I think its possible to expand on your short summary to cover all circumstances, paul, I just want to get confirmation before adding to it.

contest initiated by someone making a concrete move and someone(s) else opposing it. 3 rounds then proceed as follows: (TALKING IN CAPS)

1) everybody rolls for initiative, which determines move order for the round2) the first player to move leaves his dice stand as his move roll, and ANNOUNCES HIS MOVE3) anyone answering that move (trying to prevent it) ANNOUNCES THEIR INTENDED DEFENCE and rolls their answer, and the outcome is resolved3a) if multiple characters oppose the move, there is an advantage in numbers. Challenger must overcome *all* answerers to achieve his move.3b) the answerer(s) NARRATE HOW THE CHALLENGER achieved or didnt achieve his move for that round (may involve interpretation of multiple dice rolls if opposed by multiple characters)4) answering robs you of your unused turn to move that round 5) the next person who has not answered moves next in initiative order and so on6) anyone who wins as either the challenger or the answerer gets an initiative dice to use for the duration of the *next* round, even if they fail subsequent answers in the current round.7) parties who were previously not involved in the contest can join in at any time, either at the start of the round when initiative is rolled, or by deciding to answer any announced move during the round. This does not extend the number of rounds of the contest.

p2) this opens up the possibility of contradictory results. victim looses to headsman, but sorcerer wins. In this 1 vs. many scenario, my interpretation is that there is an advantage in numbers. headsman must defeat all answerer in order to achieve his aim?

Nope. The headsman has to defeat all answerers to get the stick. Then he can exhaust or injure the answerers, which may or may not be his aim.

You just follow the procedure, and see what happens. The dice never tell you whether someone "got their aim" or not: you could lose and still get your aim if an Answerer chooses to give it to you in their narration, or you could get it through negotiation at the end.

In this sense, your "initiative" theory is correct:

Let's say the headsman rolls highest and his Challenge is to cut off the burglar's head. The burglar and and the sorcerer Answer; both reroll their dice. If the burglar rolls higher than the sorcerer, he Answers first. If his Answer is to narrate his head getting cut off, or if he's doubled and negotiates losing his head instead of having his dice damaged, the sorcerer is out of luck, with no chance to stop that happening.

That summary is really helpful I just have a question regarding 7). When you say any player that wasn't initially involved in the conflict (did not roll for initiative) can join at anytime, is that after a round has started or during it?

If he wants to join during the round, while it's being resolved, what is his place in the initiative order, does he make his move (if hasn't answered) after the last player with valid move or does he roll initiative to decide when he can play?

Let the madness stop! You clearly have to join in at the beginning of the round, if you're going to, so you can roll initiative with everybody else.

-Vincent

hi Vincent - sorry, more madness coming your way :) why clearly? initiative is only used to determine order of challenges, not answers. And once you have answered, you dont get to challenge. So why not butt-in with an answer in mid-round if you want to?

oh, the madness of someone who has played the game once arguing with the game designer. THAT madness!

I should add that this isnt a theoretical situation. In the one game I have played, a one on one chase conflict entered an area where a third character was previously narrated to be at. When it became apparent that the chasing character was going to do something to the fleeing character that the third character didnt like, that player asked if she could truly to stop it.

1) everybody rolls for initiative, which determines move order for the round2) the first player to move leaves his dice stand as his move roll, and ANNOUNCES HIS MOVE 3) anyone answering that move (trying to prevent it), in order of initiative, ANNOUNCES THEIR INTENDED DEFENCE and rolls their answer, and the outcome is resolved3a) if multiple characters oppose the move, there is an advantage in numbers. Challenger must overcome *all* answerers to achieve his move.3b) the answerer(s) NARRATE HOW THE CHALLENGER achieved or didnt achieve his move for that round (may involve interpretation of multiple dice rolls if opposed by multiple characters)4) answering robs you of your unused turn to move that round5) the next person who has not answered moves next in initiative order and so on6) anyone who wins as either the challenger or the answerer gets an initiative dice to use for the duration of the *next* round, even if they fail subsequent answers in the current round.7) parties who were previously not involved in the contest can join in at any time, either at the start of the round when initiative is rolled, or by deciding to answer any announced move during the round (in which case they answer last). This does not extend the number of rounds of the contest.

3) anyone answering that move (trying to prevent it), in order of initiative, ANNOUNCES THEIR INTENDED DEFENCE and rolls their answer, and the outcome is resolved3a) if multiple characters oppose the move, there is an advantage in numbers. Challenger must overcome *all* answerers to achieve his move.3b) the answerer(s) NARRATE HOW THE CHALLENGER achieved or didnt achieve his move for that round (may involve interpretation of multiple dice rolls if opposed by multiple characters)

As written, Answerers don't ever announce their intended defence. They Answer in order of highest roll to lowest roll. Answering means you reroll the dice and then you say how the Challenger's action affects you, which may or may not allow the Challenger to achieve his move--that's up to your narration and the dice.

In a Wicked Age... doesn't care about intended results when people roll the dice, and it makes the game much easier and smoother to play than if you try to shoehorn that in there.

1) everybody rolls for initiative, which determines move order for the round2) the first player to move leaves his dice stand as his move roll, and ANNOUNCES HIS MOVE3) anyone answering that move (trying to prevent it), in order of initiative, rolls their answer, and the outcome is resolved as follows:3a) if multiple characters oppose the move, there is an advantage in numbers. Challenger must overcome *all* answerers to achieve his move.3b) the answerer(s) NARRATE HOW THE CHALLENGER achieved or didnt achieve his move for that round (may involve interpretation of multiple dice rolls if opposed by multiple characters)4) answering robs you of your unused turn to move that round5) the next person who has not answered moves next in initiative order and so on6) anyone who wins as either the challenger or the answerer gets an initiative dice to use for the duration of the *next* round, even if they fail subsequent answers in the current round.7) parties who were previously not involved in the contest can join in at any time, either at the start of the round when initiative is rolled, or by deciding to answer any announced move during the round (in which case they answer last). This does not extend the number of rounds of the contest.

That's better, but it's 3a) and 3b) that I take issue with. I suppose you could try to play the game that way, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it's intended to go. It's a needless complication, in my mind, and it might cause you problems down the road.

The standard way is:

3) In order of initiative, each player who needs to Answer, Answers.3a) To Answer, reroll your dice and NARRATE YOUR ANSWER according to the results (if you were doubled, you suck it up, whatever badness the move had in store for you--tell us how that goes down; if you lost bit weren't doubled, you somehow defend yourself but find yourself at a disadvantage; if you rolled higher, you narrate how you come to have the upper hand). 3b) Once you're done, the next person in initiative order Answers.

Again: the dice don't tell whether the challenger achieved his/her move or not--the players do. The dice just tell you who has the Stick--i.e. who's in danger of being exhausted or injured.